Adam suggests they meet up

The temptation to respond to Natalie's message and encourage her flirting was great, but Adam had managed to resist this initial urge. He had also decided not to mention it to Helen, however, and instead thought it best to leave it to tomorrow morning.

The rest of the day passed by relatively normally. Helen had given up reading the spellbook after a while, and they had dealt with some household chores before relaxing in front of the TV together in the evening.

Come the next day, Monday, Adam awoke to find that Helen had already left for work as usual. He rolled over to turn off his alarm and grabbed his phone. Immediately, he went to his Messenger app and found the message from Natalie. Without thinking he replied.

Hey Natalie. Yesterday was fun. Maybe we should meet up after work today and talk about things. x

After hitting send Adam felt a sickness in his stomach. He tried to ignore it and told himself that it wasn't really Natalie he was messaging. This was his chance to observe how the spell worked and he could report his findings back to Helen. If anything else happened...

Adam's train of thought was broken by a quick reply from Natalie.

That would be perfect! Where do you want to meet up? xx

*******************

Adam had arranged to meet the temporary Natalie after work at a large pub not far from the station where he caught the train home. He had messaged Helen to tell her he would be home from work late and almost admitted to what he was doing. He chickened out at the last second though, telling himself that if he had to tell Helen it should be face to face and after the fact.

After arranging the time and place to meet up, Adam had been frustrated by the fact Natalie had not messaged him any further. He was tempted to send a random message to see what she was doing but thought better of it. According to Helen's description of the spell, Natalie would just be going about her role as normal.

Entering the pub, Adam quickly found where Natalie was. She was sitting on a stool at a table by the window. The way she was seated gave everyone in the pub a great view of her legs, and Adam could see that a couple of old men at the bar were eyeing her up. Understandably so as Natalie was wearing a tight fitting black skirt that just barely covered her arse, and a blue blouse with the top two buttons undone. Natalie's legs and cleavage were on display in all their glory, and Adam had a hard time not melting on the spot.

Natalie waved Adam over as she spotted him staring at her. She gave him one of her dazzling smiles as he wandered over in a trance.

"Hey, sweetie!" Natalie said softly. "Take a seat, I've already got you a drink."

Adam did as he was told and sat at the stool opposite. He looked down to the drink that Natalie had purchased him and was pleased to see it was stout of some kind

"I remembered you like to drink darker beers. I hope it's ok." Natalie flashed Adam another toothy grin as he took a sip from his pint. It was smooth and bitter, just how he liked it.

"It's great, thank you." Adam looked up into Natalie's eyes and did his best not to be entranced by them. He glanced away, but found his gaze drifting down to her cleavage. He felt his pulse begin to quicken and his throat felt a little dry. Adam sipped at his beer once more and thought desperately for something to say.

Why had he asked Natalie to come here today? He was supposed to be seeing how this caretaker spell thingy was working right? Helen would appreciate that. He wasn't just here to spend time with his ex-girlfriend. "How was your day?" He asked lamely.

"Oh it was good!" Natalie chirped. "I was helping Felix, my boss you remember? Well I was helping him with a case. There was so much paperwork to sift through. We were cramped up in this tiny office with the other two junior solicitors. I swear they were messing with me! They kept on brushing past me and asking me to bend down to bring up boxes of documents they could have easily got themselves."

Adam frowned as he listened to Natalie, the replacement Natalie anyway, recall her day. She described in great detail how she had followed along with every minor instruction from her male colleagues and boss, regardless of how menial they were. The real Natalie would have told them where to shove it and certainly wouldn't have allowed the constant groping. Despite her being his ex-girlfriend, Adam started to feel a bit annoyed by this and more than a little jealous.

"And you just let them get away with this?" Adam asked. He frowned deeply as he sipped at his beer.

"Yeah I suppose," Natalie laughed. "I found it funny to be honest. It didn't -help me- bother me at all."

"What did you say?" Adam said urgently, going over what Natalie had just said in his mind. He had sworn he'd heard a second identical, but very ****, voice calling out for help.

"I said it didn't bother me," Natalie repeated with a smile. "What's the matter? It is noisy -please help me- in here, we could go outside - please Adam- if you wanted?"

Adam had to stiffle a gasp. He was certain he could hear the panicked pleas of his ex-girlfriend amongst the inane chatter of the substitute. Was she trying to break out of the spell? Surely he had to help her? But what would she do if she was successful? Natalie would be furious with Helen and try and get to the spellbook again. Despite his misgivings, Adam would surely have to leave Natalie as she was, right? Helen had cast this spell for a reason after all. But it was supposed to act just like Natalie would, not just do whatever anyone told her to do.

Adam let out a deep sigh and reached out to hold Natalie's hand. He thought a moment longer about what to do before saying...